The Fumbling Foodie

Lobster Mac & Cheese

Pasta, Cheese, and Lobster (with some shrimp and crab thrown in for good measure): It doesn't get much better than this. With all due respect Parker, this is the ultimate Mac & Cheese. Even my wife, who is not a fan of lobster, loved it. Rich. Creamy. Filling. Oh So Good. The Ultimate Indulgence in Comfort Food.

I learned to make this and half a dozen other lobster dishes during a special class at my favorite gourmet kitchen tools store in Glendale, AZ.

I confess though, I cheated. To do this right you need to start with a whole live lobster and make your own stock. I used this lobster base from Superior Touch. Warning: If you use this stuff, don't add salt to anything else. The second item in the list of ingredients is salt.

Another cheat: When I was taught this recipe, we used fontina and grated it. Instead, I used an 8 oz package of a pre-grated mixture of Mozarella, Provolone, Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina, and Romano.

Lobster Mac & Cheese

2 Tablespoons Lobster Base (or three cups lobster stock)
8 oz grated cheese
2 uncooked lobter tails
1/4 - 1/3 pound medium shrimp, shelled and de-veined
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup heavy cream
8 onces shell pasta
1/2 can crabmeat

If using lobster base, add it to 3 cups boiling water. stir until combined, then let simmer for 30 minutes.

Drop the lobster tails into a pot of salted boiling water. Let cook for 4 minutes. Remove the lobster tails, let them cool. After cooling a bit, remove the meat from the shells. Chop the lobster meat into 1/2-inch sized chunks.

Put a pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil. When boiling, add the pasta. Cook untul al dente.

While the pasta is boiling, saute the shrimp until just barely still translucent at the edges. Remove from the heat and let them cool a bit. then chop the shrimp.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. When the foam has subsided, add the flour and whisk well until combined. Add the lobster stock or base mixture. Add the cream. Mix. let cook 2-5 minutes. Add the cheese and stir until the cheese is melted and the mixture is well-blended.

The pasta should be done about now. Drain, then combine the pasta, sauce, shrimp, lobster, and crab.

Serves 4

Creamy Chardonnay Shrimp Pasta

So I was having a lunch meeting in one of my favorite spots. They make a great ham and pineapple pizza but this time I wanted to try something different. I spied this on the menu:

Chardonnay Shrimp Pasta

Shrimp sauteed with garlic, basil, onions, fire-roasted red peppers, Roma and sun-dried tomatoes over rotelle noodles in a creamy chardonnay wine sauce. Topped with applewood smoked bacon, parmianno reggiano and parsley.

It was pretty good except for the sauce - no cream. As I sat there eating it, I couldn't help but think how much better this dish would be with a cream sauce. I thought to myself, I can do better.

I have to tell you, the Fumbling Foodie is more of a 'recipe follower' than a real chef, but with something as simple as this, I thought I could figure it out. With my Sweet Lady Wife out of town, I figured this would be the perfect opportunit to experiment - When you fail alone, no one hears you scream. (On the other hand, if you fail badly enough no one is there to call 911 for you either.)

I will share the technique for roasting red bell peppers taught to me by Chef Rodney Jankowsli: Set the pepper on the grill over high heat and turn it every couple of minutes so all sides get thoroughly blackened. Take it off the grill, put it in a paper bag, and let it cool for 10 minutes. It's easy to then peel the skin off. After that, cut it open remove the seeds, and cut it into inch-long strips.

Daves Creamy Chardonnay Shrimp Pasta

1 lb penne, rotella, or other pasta
3/4 lb shrimp, cleaned peeled, and deveined.
1 roasted red bell pepper per the above instructions
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
4-8 oz chopped pancetta or bacon
1/3 cup choped fresh basil
2 roma tomatoes, seeds removed and coarsly chopped
4 oz julienned sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup chardonnay
1 cup cream
1 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
1/2 cop chopped fresh parsley

Start a large pot of salted water boiling. When it boils add the pasta.

In a saute pan over medium-high heat, brown the pancetta. Remove it from the pan and set it aside. add a little olive oil to the pan if necessary. When it's hot add the garlic. When you can start to smell the garlic add the onions.

Saute the onions until translucent. Add the chopped & roasted red pepper. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add the Roma and sun-dried tomatoes. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and basil. Saute until the shrimp have almost lost their translucency.

The pasta should be done about now. Drain and rinse it, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Place the pasta in a large bowl. Add the reserved pasta water. Add the mixture from the saute pan.

Deglaze the pan with the chardonnay. Reduce to about a tablespoon. Add the cream. Reduce by half. Add to the pasta mixture and the cheese and toss to coat. Add the parsley and serve.

Serves four

Penne Rustica

Today was a special day. Not only was it Father's Day for my 84-year old Dad, but we also celebrated my Mother's 79th Birthday. And with my house finally on the market, I had time to prepare a proper meal.

I admit to putting in some extra effort on these occassions and the reason is simple: At my parents' age, any one of these celebrations might be the last time I get to prepare a meal for them.

The recipe for Penne Rustica is this one from Recipezaar so I won't repeat the whole thing here. Rather than bacon, I substituted proscuitto from the neighborhood italian deli. The proscuitto is nice and fresh and I can get it sliced thicker. (The vacuum-bagged stuff you find in the supermarket is sliced far too thin for frying.) I also put in extra proscuitto, shrimp, and cheese. The next time I make this though I am also going to cut back on the butter. Six ounces of butter is about twice what is needed.

It turned out pretty good, rivalling the Penne Rustica from Macaroni Grill. Definitely a keeper.

Chicken, Broccoli, and Pasta Salad

Last Sunday I was running around like a maniac working on the house. I barely had time to eat, let alone figure out what to make and then prepare it. Driving home from yet another trip to the hardware store, this dish occured to me. After grabbing some penne pasta and a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts from the supermarket, I was able to make this in about 30 minutes.

I have begun to really like grilling the chicken for these sort of dishes. In the summer time it gets some of the heat out of the kitchen (yes, it is summer here in Arizona. The temperature is not too bad yet: the high today is expected to be only 100F.)

Chicken Broccoli, and Pasta Salad

2 bonless skinless chicken breasts
1 lb broccoli crowns
1 lb penne pasta
1/4 cup jullienned oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
2 cups grated parmigiano reggiano
4 scallions
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

Grill the chicken breasts. Let them cool a little and then slice then into 1/4-inch thick slices. Cut the long slices in half. Trim the broccoli crowns into 1-inch florets. Discard the stems. Bring 4 quarts of salted water to a boil. Blanch the broccoli for 2-3 minutes until tender but still crunchy. Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.

Reusing the same water, boil the pasta until al dente. While the pasta is cooking mix the oil and vinegar together in a small bowl. Slice the scallions crosswise into 1/8 inch thick discs.

When the pasta is done, remove fromm the water, drain, and rinse. Place the pasta in a large bowl. Add the chicken, tomatoes, broccoli, cheese, and scallions. Toss. Add the dressing and toss again. Serve warm.

Chicken & Shrimp with Lemon Butter Sauce

This dish was inspired by a recent lunch at the Macaroni Grill. Chicken & Shrimp Scaloppine was a new menu item and so I decided to try it even though I think it is nothing more than MG's Chicken Scaloppine with a few shrimp added.

The flavor however, was great and I wanted to try to duplicate it. There are a lot of copycat recipes on the web for Macaroni Grill's Scaloppine di Pollo. They don't include shrimp however and they make enough to feed an army. Using the list of ingredients as a guide, I just kinda winged it and the results turned out great-tasting.

Instead of doing the chicken scaloppine style (pounded very thin) I grilled it and cut it into strips. I also used some DeCio handmade Spinach Basil Garlic pasta which was a perfect match for this dish.

Chicken & Shrimp with Lemon Butter Sauce

2 oz lemon juice
1 oz white wine
2 oz heavy cream
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 oz pancetta
6 oz button mushrooms, sliced
6 oz artichoke hearts, quartered
1 tablespoon capers

Grill the chicken breasts. Let them cool slightly and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips.

Start a large pot of salted water boiling for the pasta. When the water is boiling add the pasta.

Heat the lemon juice and wine in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and reduce by 1/3. Add the cream. Simmer, stirring often until the mixture thickens slightly. Cut the butter into slices and add a slice or two at a time, whisking continually. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside but keep it warm.

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan. Add the shrimp. Let the shrimp cook for about a minute and then turn them over. When the shrimp are pink but still slightly translucent remove them from the pan and set them aside.

Saute the mushrooms and pancetta. Add the chicken. and continue sauteing long enough to reheat the chicken. Add a little white wine to deglaze the pan and incorporate the fond into the mixture. Add the shrimp. Pour about a quarter of the lemon butter sauce into the pan and toss to coat.

About tis time the pasta should be al dente. Place a serving of the pasta on each plate. Top with the chicken/shrimp/etc mixture. Pour a little lemon butter sauce on top and garnish with parsley.

Serves 6

Creamy Shrimp & Tomato Risotto

My wife christened this "The Best Risotto You Have Ever Made".

This recipe is courtesy of Chef Patrick Karvis, Executive Chef of the Wild Horse Grill here in Arizona and one of the chef instructors for many of Plate It Up!'s cooking classes.

This was absolutely scrumptious. The cream and butter made it much creamier that other risottos I have prepared.

Creamy Shrip & Tomato Risotto

1 pound Arborio Rice
1 shallot, finely diced
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Bay leaf
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup white wine
1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
1 tomato, diced
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

Begin by placing the olive oil into a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the rice. Stir and toss a bit to coat until the rice grains glisten. Add the wine. Let it simmer until there is no liquid above the surface of the rice, stirring frequently.

Add just enough chicken stock to cover the rice, stir frequently, until again there is no liquid covering the rice. Add a little more chicken stock. Repeat. And Repeat. (When you have about one more 'dose' of chicken stock left that is your signal to get the shrimp going, below). After adding the last of the chicken stock and waiting one last time until there is no liquid left covering the rice, add the butter and cream. Mix well. Cook until creamy but still al dente.

Shrimp: Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add some olive oil. Add the shrimp, tomatoes, thyme, and parsley. Saute until the edges of a few of the shrimp are still just a bit translucent.

Stir the shrimp-tomato mixture into the risotto and serve.

Serves four generously.

Dave's Grilled Chicken Risotto

My beautiful Wife spent the day shopping with her sister and so I knew that when she came home she would be in the mood for some comfort food. She is a meat-and-potatoes girl, so I knew that whatever I fixed had BETTER have meat in it.

OK, so I've had Risotto on the brain lately. I love that creamy texture. Risotto is a blank canvas. I love the way you can take a few simple ingredients and turn it into anything you want.

Thanks to Adam and the Carnival of the Grill, grilling has been in the forefront of my mind. So, I thought, "What about a Grilled Chicken Risotto?

I made a paste of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, minced garlic, and some freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley and basted some chicken thighs with it while they were grilling. And borrowing from a Willams-Sonoma receipe, I added some carmelized onions and leek to the risotto and the result was pretty darn good.

For the most part, I am simply a recipe-follower. It is not often that I just 'wing it' like this.

Update: My wife loved it.

Dave's Grilled Chicken Risotto

For the Chicken:

4 skinless boneless chicken thighs
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons finely chopped italian flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

For the Risotto:

1 large sweet onion, coarsly chopped
1 leek, white part only, coarsly chopped
1 cup Madeira wine
8 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
2 tablespoons butter
Olive oil

Heat the grill. Pour the chicken broth into a large saucepan and bring it to a simmer.

Mix the garlic, parsley, vinegar, and olive oil in a small bowl. When the grill is hot, put the chick thighs on it and baste the top side of them with the garlic/parsley/vinegar/oil mixture. When the chicken thighs have grill marks on the bottom side, turn them over, baste the other side and continue to cook. The instant they are done get them off the grill to cool. They are done when the juices run clear or the internal temp of the fattest piece is 165F.

While the chicken is cooling, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and leek and saute until the onions are golden brown. Add 1/2 cup Madeira and continue to cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add a ladleful of the simmering chicken broth to the onions and let them cook until the liquid has reduced and is pretty thick. Take the saucepan off the heat and set it aside.

Time for the rice. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the rice, stirring frequently until the rice is shiny and well coated. Add the remaining 1/2 cup Madeira. Add a ladleful of chicken broth. Stir frequently. Each time the liquid is almost completely absorbed, add another ladleful of chicken broth. Stir frequently. Between stirrings, chop the chicken into bite-sized morsels.

Continue adding broth one ladleful at a time (and stirring). When the rice has started to soften, add the chicken. Continue adding broth one ladleful at a time (and stirring). When the rice is tender, remove it from the heat. Stir in the carmelized onions and butter, and serve.

Serves 4.

Fresh Homemade Pasta

If the only pasta you have eaten comes in those little bags and boxes from your supermarket then you do not know what you are missing. I'll tell you what you are missing: buttery melt-in-your mouth stuff that also gives you the satisfaction of knowing that only an hour ago it was flour and eggs.

I recently took a cooking class at Plate It Up! taught by Chef Robert Izzo on the art of making pasta from scratch. I'll admit, I was skeptical. I attended this class for the sauces but my first bite of fresh pasta was a revelation. This stuff was like nothing I'd ever tasted before and certainly like nothing I'd bought at the grocers. And for a guy like me who is basically a recipe-follower, making pasta has the attraction of being somewhat of an art. You can't just measure out the ingredients and mix. The dough has to feel right.

Pasta Dough (Enough to Serve 4)

1/2 pound all-purpose flour
3 eggs (technically 1 egg per 3oz of flour)
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
A little water
extra flour

Mix the 1/2 pound of flour, the eggs, and olive oil in a large mixing bowl using your hands. That's right. You've gotta get your hands messy. Start working the dough in your hands. Add a tiny bit of water at a time until there is no loose flour in the bowl. When I say a tiny bit of wather, I mean it. The amount of water you will need will vary with temperature and humidity. The only way to get it right is to add a little at a time. Dip your fingertips into a bowl of water, pull them out and run them over the dough.

Soon the dough will become a very uniform color like that in the picture. Work the dough in your hands. You you remember those excercise devices you squeeze that are designed to strengthen your grip? Use the same technique here. Occassinally stretch the dough, fold it over on itself, and continue working.

When you start, the dough will be extremely sticky and will stick to your hands as well as it sticks to itself. As you work it though, gradually it will lose its stickiness. If it does not seem to be losing its stickiness, add a little flour. When you've worked the dough until it is no longer sticky and feels more plastic you've got it about right. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes. Let your muscles rest too.

Making the Pasta

You will need a pasta machine like the one made by Imperia shown here. There are larger models if you make pasta in industrial-sized batches. You can get an electric drive motor for this one, but I like the control that the hand-crank gives me. It takes two people, one to crank and one to hold the pasta but for me it is a great way for my wife and I to do some food preparation together.

The front rollers on the machine are flat and are designed to create these long flat sheets (Chef Roberto calls them tongues) of pasta. A knob on the side adjusts the spacing between rollers in 6 steps. Set the knob on the widest setting, Number 1. Divide the dough into quarters. Take one piece of dough and run it through the rollers. When it comes out, double it over and run it through again. Repeat about six times. (Hint: If the dough is sticking to the machine then it is too wet. Add a little flour, work it in your hands a little longer, and try again.)

After running the dough through the rollers about six times on their widest setting, it is time to turn the knob to the next narrower setting and run the dough through once. Repeat, moving to a narrower setting each time. When you get to setting 5 (the next-to-the-last one) your dough tongue may be very long. In that case cut it in half crosswise. After running the dough through the front rollers on their narrowest setting (6) lay the tongue on a floured sheet of wax paper. Gently flour both sides of the tongue.

My pasta machine comes with attachements for making pasta in four widths. I prefer tagliatelle, about 5mm wide. Move the crank to the rear set of rollers associated with your desired pasta. Carefully run each tongue through the rollers creating nice long strands of fresh pasta. Set them aside in a little flour until you are finished.

Cooking the Pasta

Boil a pot of salted water just like you do for dried pasta. Do you know how it takes dried pasta 18-20 minutes to get to al dente? Not this stuff. Plan on about four minutes. You will know when your pasta is done because it will float to the top. Remove it from the water, let it drain slightly, and serve.

While this may sound time-consuming it is not: You basically go from raw flour and eggs to dinner on the table in about an hour.

Tags: Fresh Pasta

Homemade Pasta

My favorite gourmet kitchen tools store in Glendale, AZ holds various cooking classes severel nights each week. Last night's class was how to make pasta and it was taught by Chef Roberto Izzo.

We made Tagliatelle, a linguini-like pata served in a simple tomato sauce. Frankly, I may never go back to packaged pasta again. It just melts in your mouth. Honestly if I had known that fresh homemade pasta was that good I would have begun making my own a long time ago.

We also made Orecchiette - little ear-shaped pasta - served in rapini, Pecorino Romano, garlic, and a little olive oil and Ravioli Florentine. After eating the ravioli I told my wife I will never look at canned ravioli the say way again.

The thing that fasciniated me is that there is art to making pasta. The ingredients are simple: flour, eggs, and some water. Due to changes in ambient temerature and humidity however, it is impossible to predict exactly how much water will be required. You have to judge by the feel of the dough as you work it in your hands.

Sorry but no photo this time. The camera is buried somewhere in this house after the tile guys did their thing last week.

Tags: Pasta

Doubling Pasta Recipes

I recently made Pasta with Proscuitto, Peas, and Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce again, and because we had guests for dinner (Why does saying that make me sound like a cannibal?) I doubled the recipe.

Even though I doubled the sauce as well as the amount of pasta, it seemed like there was not nearly enough sauce. Perhaps next time I double a pasta recipe I should more than double the sauce. Heather at Plate It Up! suggested that before I combine the pasta and sauce, I mix a little (1/2 cup or so) of the pasta water with the sauce. That way the pasta will soak up the water instead of the sauce.